Downtown is waiting for yooouuu…

Comfy Chair. Widescreen telly. Hot coffee (the real kind, not the GTA version). You'd be forgiven for thinking of this as a (not undeserved) day off. None of the sort. Not that we're complaining, mind; the meeting room we find ourselves in is fully air conditioned and packed with mod cons; the perfect place to get a first look at another upcoming title on the Eidos release schedule.

'Urban Chaos is essentially a first-person shooter with three unique differences' says the game's producer, Alex Camilleri. He's a jovial kind of guy - full of smiles and genuine enthusiasm for the title he's overseeing. Far from the forced excitement of many a PR presentation, his presence marks a refreshing change for a game that, somewhat surprisingly, seems equally individual as gaming concepts go.

'We've got use of the riot shield, the ability to enlist help from the emergency services, and something we're calling "gaming moments', he grins, obviously aware that he's providing a significant lack of context, and amused by our ignorant eyebrow furrowing. Our reaction can hardly be surprising, though; after all, the Urban Chaos name will, to most well-schooled gamers, evoke images of the Dreamcast-era action adventure famed for featuring one of the industry's few African-American female leads.

This Urban Chaos, however, has nothing to do with its sprawling third-person namesake. Indeed, Riot Response's main character, Nick Mason, is about as far from exotic as it gets: The white, male, working class leader of T-Zero, an anti-terror squad designated with taking back the streets of a war-torn, gang-ruled city in the heart of a fictional Middle America.

Eager to explain, Camilleri continues his obviously well-rehearsed elaboration: 'The shield in particular is essential; it helps put you in the shoes of the main character. We've worked very hard on building a world you can walk into and find believable - which is also where the Emergency services come in. And "gaming moments"? They're just about making the player feel good!'

He's not just all talk, either. Watching Camilleri play the game on a debug PS2, we begin to understand his overt confidence. With a visual style akin to a more colourful version of Manhunt, Urban Chaos is by no means the best looker on current consoles, yet places the player in a fast-paced, cohesive and above all violent virtual reality that we can't help but find appealing on a base instinct level.

He plays for several minutes, pointing out various examples of Riot Response's idiosyncratic take on the first-person framework. One standout section involves Nick Mason calling upon a fireman to follow him through a stream of underground industrial corridors, before ordering the fire-fighter to wait while he uses the shield to sidle past a slew of gas-powered fire jets. Reaching the other side, he turns off the gas and calls forth his emergency service helper to follow him - the two working together to eventually douse a flame and allow Nick further progress.

We also see another instance where Nick enlists help from a medic to boost his health, before entering into a "gaming moment" hostage scenario; time slowing down in bullet-time fashion, allowing Camilleri time on the controls to make an impressive pinpoint skull-splitting headshot in true action flick fashion. In turn, this leads Camalleri to point out the variety of objectives offered by the game, with 'Everything from main ones, like beating the end-of-level boss, to getting a certain number of headshots in a level - to even capturing a specific number of gang members by knocking them out with your tazer.'

Variety is something Urban Chaos is obviously striving for - even in its narrative elements, it appears. Despite being what Camilleri labels 'High on action, low on story', there most definitely is an over-arching plot in the background - and one that, in true-to-form abstract fashion, the game's Producer says is 'Told in four different ways'.

But what does that mean exactly? 'Well' says Cammileri, 'First we've got the background story, told in newsflash fashion by an actual American newsreader thanks to the deal we got with US Channel 7 news. Secondly, there's breaking news, with reports in between levels that give you a briefing of the next mission. Thirdly, there's a despatch radio, presenting new objectives mid-mission. And, last but not least, there are obviously the emergency services, which don't just help when you ask - they actually tell you what's going on, on the street.'

So; a unique shooter with its own original setting, a slew of inventive gameplay approaches, entertaining peripheral characters, an accessible story arc that doesn't get in the way of gameplay, and offering a concerted feeling of achievement - embodied particularly by some 'Bonus levels called Emergency Scenarios' and '55 unlockable extras - from new guns to ammo, grenades, gas masks, body armour and a new prototype shield.' Throw in some impressive set pieces (at one point, a hulking lorry smashes through an entire brick wall a few feet in front of Nick), and a 'Dynamic Difficulty Adjust (DDA) system' that regulates things like the level of auto-aim and damage caused on-the-fly, depending on how well the player's skill develops, and Riot Response may just live up to it's intentions of being a fun in-depth FPS that's also 'Highly post-pub playable'.

One thing's for sure; it won't be for kids. Don't get us wrong, this isn't "adult" in the psychologically-worrying style of Condemned, and never feels outright brutal in the same acutely graphic vein as Resident Evil 4… In fact, it's a fairly comedic brand of violence that lets the player repeatedly blast bad guys in the face with chunky weaponry, delight in setting thugs on fire with extended tazer blasts, or fling the enemy around thanks to some especially extreme ragdoll animation. That said, it never shirks on the blood, and the overall violent themes here just won't be suitable for those below the given age rating.

For those that can appreciate Urban Chaos, there will also a multiplayer function in which to inflict the game's tongue-in-cheek violence on a worldwide virtual scale. Expect to play some suitably themed game modes, with Camilleri particularly proud of the 'Cops v Robbers' theme, which 'Will for instance, see a team of police protecting a set of delivery vans for a time limit from the onslaught of a team of terrorists.' Asked about the number of players, Camilleri quotes 'Eight players on both systems, played online or through a LAN'.

In honesty, this one is a bit of surprise; even more so than our recent look at the also Eidos-published Rogue Trooper. From what we've seen, Urban Chaos: Riot Response is going about things it's own way, and will appeal to the less strategic side of the FPS fanbase for whom EAs BLACK has recently made a big impact.

Preview by: Mark Scott
Preview Published: 05.04.06